Acer computers?

[Walrus]

Anybody have any experience or opinions on Acer computers? A local computer store has 1 left from their back to school promo. Looks to be a fair price.

[KUlawJack]

Re: Acer computers?

Anybody have any experience or opinions on Acer computers? A local computer store has 1 left from their back to school promo. Looks to be a fair price.

My buddy that knows computers just said they are lowest on the quality spectrum of any PC that he knows of. He recommends to steer clear. Just his two cents.

[Walrus]

Re: Acer computers?

Thanks for the input. Pretty much what I was expecting to hear.

[filbert]

Re: Acer computers?

My last Windows PC was an Acer laptop. I'm a Macintosh guy now.

(That's more a software issue than a hardware one, but then I can still run Windows XP on my MacBook Pro . . . so maybe it's a HW issue, too.)

The Acer wasn't really that bad, but had some pretty cheaply made parts, I think. If you can afford better, buy better.

[jackmd]

Re: Acer computers?

My last Windows PC was an Acer laptop. I'm a Macintosh guy now.

(That's more a software issue than a hardware one, but then I can still run Windows XP on my MacBook Pro . . . so maybe it's a HW issue, too.)

The Acer wasn't really that bad, but had some pretty cheaply made parts, I think. If you can afford better, buy better.

I own a monster Dell laptop and needed a smaller one. Looked at the Acer, seemed too cheap. Went with the HP, so far so good. I don't need a lot of functionality just word processing, document viewing, some presentations and general web browsing.

[SDHoops]

Re: Acer computers?

I bought an Acer laptop in the summer of 2007 for $300. I thought it was a good deal and I thought, well I'm just going to use it for the internet anyway and road trips so it would be perfect. Less then a year later, I was investing in a new computer. It froze up a lot and a bottom part was so broken that a computer repair store was going to charge $250 to fix it. I just bought a new one, period. I'd spend the extra hundred, or couple of hundred on a better one which might last in the long run!

[Jack4Life]

Re: Acer computers?

Actually, I have bought three Dell laptops (one for SDSU daughter #2, one for home and one for work) this year and they all work just fine. Prices have ranged from $500 to $1100.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Acer computers?

Be careful with HP laptops. They've had heat issues in the past that led to graphics card failures and to screen hinge breaks.

I had to send my son's in for a MOBO replacement when the graphics card failed last year. I learned of the high failure rate and talked them into extending the warranty for $100 rather than pay $400 for the MOBO.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Acer computers?

The least expensive Mac is $999

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...family/macbook

I've got one of those and it works for everything from the basics (web, Word, etc.) to editing video with Final Cut Studio (software that costs more than the computer). No viruses or spyware to worry about. We require our students to buy those and I can tell you from four years' of more than 300 students' experiences that MacBooks are solid as a rock and built to last.

As Filbert mentioned, Macs also run Windows, either as a dual-boot situation or inside of an emulator running under Mac OS X. Now and then I have to run a Windows program and just fire up Windows within OS X, do what I need to do, shut it down and get back to work.

Lots of capability and real durability for $999. My last Mac laptop was seven years old when I retired it.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Acer computers?

If you want good deals on lap tops check out the leaked Walmart Black Friday ads.

http://gizmodo.com/5407643/walmart-b...blu+ray-player

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: Acer computers?

Have an Acer laptop (actually a rebranded E-Machines) that was in Wally World for about a week last winter before they were all sold out. Cost about $350 and they were soon being resold on E-Bay for an additional $100.

My wife has an Acer 1 netbook, the older model before they increased screen size.

Acer owns both E-Machine and Gateway Brands, although Gateway is completely different than the old school/business machines or other Gateways of old. They also own Packard-Bell, although that brand has disappeared from the U.S. At least according to Wikipedia (with reference to an article) they are #2 globally in computer production behind HP. At least last year, I think they had moved past Asus and become the largest netbook manufacturer (this info. may be out of date).

I've had no issues with either machine, other than the fact that mine came with Vista. Hell of a lot of bang for the buck.

[Nidaros]

Re: Acer computers?

My friend bought an E-machine desktop maybe four or five years ago and its still running. The technology might not be up to date, but it seems to run okay. Best Buy was selling E-machines when my friend bought her unit. I think changing technology seems to outdate things in a hurry more so than the quality of the workmanship.

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: Acer computers?

If Acer is the new GM, I think E-Machines their Chevy, Acer their Buick and Gateway their Caddy. Depending on the age of the E-Machine or the Gateway they could predate the Acer takeover and be totally different machines. Actually, if I remember correctly, E-Machines swallowed the consumer division of Gateway and then got taken over by Acer. My laptop (three gigs of memory but a slower processor) duplicates an E-Machine computer.

I just bought one of those $700 (less another $100 if I'd only waited until Black Friday) Sanyo plasma 50 inch sets at Walmart (almost called it Wal-Mart but that's passe). Panasonic, who makes mostly plasma sets and dominates, bought Sanyo about a year ago. Is my set (the only Sanyo plasma as far as I know) an actual Sanyo or a rebranded Panasonic sold for less bucks? The spins of technology takeovers leave me dizzy.

[22jack]

Re: Acer computers?

There was an article today on Yahoo talking about laptops. It says that 1 in 3 laptops die in the first 3 years.

The most reliable companies? A shocker: Toshiba and Asus, both with below a 16 percent failure rate due to hardware malfunction.

The least reliable brands? Acer, Gateway, and HP. HP's hardware malfunction rate, the worst in SquareTrade's analysis, is a whopping 25.6 percent.

[JimmieTuba]

Re: Acer computers?

HP's hardware malfunction rate, the worst in SquareTrade's analysis, is a whopping 25.6 percent.

I have first hand experience with this. I got a HP Tablet (tx1219) 2 years ago. The motherboard on it failed just a few months ago. In June the WLAN card went bad. The root problem is that the AMD processors run hotter than the comparable Intels. Unfortunately HP did not increase cooling on the unit. I love the tablet though and really want to replace it with the new model but I just won't as long as the AMD is still in the HP (AMD has not come out with a cooler processor yet (temp not style)).